Renegade - The Beginning
by TARDISBlueBox
Summary: Gallifrey, on the brink of war. The Senate votes to return Rassilon to power. A young Time Lord steals a TARDIS and runs. However, his best friend is captured and tortured. Meanwhile, on Earth, an ancient evil awakes...
1. Chapter 1

Extract from the 1200 year diary of the Renegade Time Lord known as "The Doctor". Extract begins:

During my Eighth Life, towards the beginning of the Last Great Time War, events took place on Gallifrey that gave rise to another renegade like myself. Like me, he was of the Prydonian chapter and he too stole a TARDIS, a copy of my own actually, spawned from the Gallifreyan Matrix.

I did not meet him for a great time, just before the end of my Eighth life. But I did hear of him through others I met on my travels...

Extract ends.

Gallifrey

"Ericar!"

Ericar looked up in curiosity. A figure ran across the floor of the courtyard towards him. Ajaxa, his childhood friend ran to meet him. He leapt up, delighted to see her.

"Ajaxa! When did you get back?" he cried, overjoyed. She leapt up into his arms.

"Only about ten minutes ago!" she said, hugging him tightly. They were so excited, they drew stares from the political busybodies filtering through the yard, heading towards the council chambers. Suddenly, a footman cried out.

"All to attention!"

Every Time Lord in the room stood to the side as President Romanadvoratrelundar strode purposefully through the doors, on the way to the daily session. Now in her third incarnation, she had aged slightly, so as to cope with the stress the Presidency brought. However, she was still as stunning as ever.

That did not mean that she was liked by the council. They were pressing for war, war with the Daleks. She did not allow it, in order to preserve the shaky peace that had stood for so long, but would not stand for much longer. The Daleks had begun to posture more and more and a war was beginning to look inevitable.

She passed through to the chamber and the rest of the council followed. Ericar turned to Ajaxa.

"Better go, I have to be there to take notes for my father." The two hugged, and went their separate ways. Ericar passed through to the Chamber and the huge, ornate doors slammed shut behind him.

Inside the vast and huge chamber, the President stood up to the lectern. The rest of the council took their seats. There were thousands of thousands of Time Lords in the room, each representing a house or chapter of Gallifrey. Ericar looked down and caught the eye of his friend Bennard, from the House of Lungbarrow, in the chapter of Prydon. Ericar too was from the Prydonian chapter, but from a different House. Bennard was the youngest of his house, and so was sent here to take notes for his Father. This too was Ericar's reason for being here. He looked down to his right and saw his father, sitting amongst the rest of his House representatives.

The noise died down and the President began her opening speech.  
About fifteen minutes into the agenda, things began to get interesting. Halfway through the 2nd item, Legendar Excradus stood up and interrupted the President.

Ericar sat up. Interrupting the President - that just wasn't done.

Legendar spoke.

"Madam President, why are we wasting our time on such prattle?! War is burgeoning on the horizon and we fritter away our time on the savages on the plains of Gallifrey. Why must we continue on this futile path, when Dalek aggression increases daily?"

The President straightened.

"Legendar, I assure you..."

"No Madam President!" he yelled, "you assure us of nothing. You have ran this council into the ground. I know the non-interference script decrees that we stay out of universal events, but in this case, the decree is void. The Daleks want a war, so they should have one!". Spittle flew from his mouth with each word, shouts of agreement echoed through the chamber. Ericar looked on in horror.

Legendar continued.

"I call now for a vote. A vote to remove President Romanadvoratrelundar and begin to prepare for war!" The Chamber roared with the shouts of Time Lords, agreeing with his plan.

Romana slumped, resigned to her inevitable fate.

And so the vote was taken. A landslide result, in favour of Legendar Excradus. President Romanadvoratrelundar was immediately removed from power. Surprisingly, Excradus did not take up the Presidency. Instead, he offered the council another alternative.

The council dispersed, even the most bloodthirsty were wary of the new choice of President.

Ericar ran out of the chamber, desperate to locate Ajaxa and tell her the news.


	2. Chapter 2

"Rassilon!" blurted Ericar, upon finding Ajaxa near the Panopticon. She turned in puzzlement

"What?" she asked, curious.

"The council just voted to go to war with the Daleks. And they want to extract Rassilon from the Matrix and give him a new regeneration cycle." sputtered Ericar. "The final vote is tomorrow.".

And so, it was that every inhabitant of the Capitol was present in the Council Chamber to watch as the vote took place. Ericar and Ajaxa looked on from near the back. Many more stood above them, the usually empty viewing balconies now packed to the brim.

Legendar Excradus presided over it all. Representatives from each house filed forward and cast their vote. Soon, it was all over.

"The votes have been tallied, the die is cast." said Legendar. "A final result of 982 to 43 in favour of extracting the Time Lord Rassilon from the Matrix.".

The chamber roared with cries of assent.

"Gallifrey Rises!" Roared Legendar

No one noticed as the two young Time Lords exited the chamber, as the rest of the Time Lords picked up Legendar's cry.

That night...

Ajaxa was awoken by someone shaking her shoulder. She rolled over to see Ericar standing over her.

"Get dressed." He whispered, holding a finger to his lips.

The two ran down a corridor, occasionally ducking into an alcove to avoid a guard or scribe.

"Where are we going?" whispered Ajaxa.

"The Matrix chamber. We have to find a way out of here." replied Ericar.

Ajaxa looked over Ericar and the change that had come across him since they had parted ways earlier that afternoon. Instead of his usual Prydonian robes, he now wore a pair of combat trousers, black shirt, dark jacket and boots. They rounded a corner and came face to face with the door to the Matrix Chamber. Ericar pulled a silver device from his pocket.

"What's that?" Whispered Ajaxa.

"It's my father's sonic screwdriver, a near perfect copy of the Doctor's." He murmured. He held it up the door and it buzzed. The door slid open and the two walked in. The door slid shut behind them. Ericar held the screwdriver to a silver panel set in the stone wall. It exploded in a shower of sparks. They walked over to the central dais. Ericar began to type into a computer terminal. Ajaxa looked around. It wasn't every day you were in the Matrix chamber. Buttresses reached high, up to a glass structure set into the ceiling. Outside, one of Gallifrey's moons cast light over the chamber. The walls were carved with Old High Gallifreyan, telling the tales of Rassilon's rise to power.

The terminal burbled and the dais began to glow. At the same time, a cloister bell began to toll.

"Oh, for the sake of the Black Scrolls!" Yelled Ericar, typing furiously. Someone began to bang the door outside the chamber.

The dais began to glow brighter. A shape began to appear. The room shook and rumbled as the Time Vortex was manipulated.

"What are you doing?!" Yelled Ajaxa.

"The Matrix doesn't just store the consciousness of dead Time Lords, it also has a copy of every TARDIS ever created." shouted Ericar over the roar of the time winds ripping out of the dais.

The doors began to slide open very slowly and very jerkily.

"Which one did you choose?!" Yelled Ajaxa.

"Take a wild guess!" Shouted Ericar. No sooner had he said the words, that a large blue box began to materialise on the dais. It continued to solidify until it finally appeared with a large thud. He pulled a key from the door and grinned. He put it back in the lock and turned. He ran inside.

Suddenly, the chamber doors slid open fully and soldiers poured into the room. Just as she was about to go through the doors, a hand grabbed Ajaxa's collar. Ericar turned to the doors.

"No!" He yelled, running back. Just as she was pulled away completely, Ajaxa reached out and pulled the doors shut. The TARDIS engines wheezed and groaned.

"No!" Yelled Ericar, "take me back, take me back!".

But the TARDIS continued on it's flight.

Back on Gallifrey, the soldiers and Ajaxa watched as the blue box faded away completely, leaving nothing behind. A single tear ran down her cheek. Legendar Excradus strode purposefully through the doors and ran over to the dais, checking it for damage. He turned and looked at the girl. He was furious.

"Take her to the Depths. Level JH-Obsidian. NOW!" He yelled. The soldiers snapped to and pulled the girl away.


	3. Chapter 3

Ericar raced to the central console, and hit the fast return switch. The TARDIS groaned and wheezed, but showed no sign of a changing course. He hit it again and the console panel sparked, burning his hand. He ran round to another panel and hit random levers. The TARDIS shoke and bucked wildly, caught between two possible courses. Suddenly, the navigational computer sparked and all the lights winked out, leaving only the time rotor and console for illumination. Ericar stood back, defeated. The scanner screen bleeped. He gazed at it. A diagram of Kasterbourous appeared. There was a winking red light beside Gallifrey. "Passage blocked"

Then it zoomed away and homed in on a planet thousands and thousands of light years away.

"Earth" Ericar read. A favourite planet of the Doctor's, the TARDIS must have homed in on a familiar place.

"This must be a console room from further on in the Doctor's timeline!" Ericar thought. He looked up at the series of concentric rings on the ceiling, turning slowly in rhythm with the engines. Gallifreyan decorated them, set in small white panels.

He slumped down into a chair, nearby a short staircase leading to a balcony that ran around the control room. Ajaxa was probably being tortured right now - and it was all his fault. He pulled out the sonic screwdriver and buzzed it.

Suddenly, the TARDIS shook and the engines roared. The scanner showed a view of the Time Vortex. He peered closer. Two grey cylinders were chasing him. A burst of light shot from one and hit his own TARDIS. The room shook and the console sparked. The lights fluxed randomly about, throwing dark shadows across the room and eradicating them a second later.

He looked about the console for something that looked like a throttle and found one. He twisted it as far as it would go. The TARDIS bucked and spun wildly but the two other TARDIS's slowly shrunk away to nothing.

Suddenly the Vortex disappeared and space appeared. A grey-white sphere rushed past. Ericar's jaw dropped as the surface of planet Earth rushed up to meet him. He twisted the throttle down and the ship lurched, the speed dropping rapidly. Looking to his right, he pushed a lever that he hoped would stop the ship.

It did. The console sparked and whined as the central column slowed to a stop. A few more small explosions erupted from over head and from beneath the console. The lights stopped fluxing and stabilised. Slowly, he stood up straight and walked over and opened the doors.

London, December 1894

Harold, or Old Harry to his friends, gaped as a large box faded into existence opposite him. He dropped his half eaten sandwich and staggered back. He pulled the bottle of booze from his jacket pocket and checked the label. He ran down the street, away from this miraculous appearance.

The door of the TARDIS opened and Ericar stumbled out. Snow crunched under his boots as he looked up at the starry night sky. He walked slowly out into the street. "So this is Earth..." He thought, "doesn't look like much!".

He jumped as he heard a noise behind him. Jumping out of the way of a horse drawn carriage, he fell into the snow. A man and woman were walking towards him. When the saw him lying in the gutter, they ran towards him.

"Are you alright young man?" enquired the man. He helped Ericar out of the snow. He dusted himself off.

"Oh those bothersome cabbies, they're going to kill someone one of these days!" Exclaimed the woman.

As he stood, they got a good look at him.

"Strange clothes, where you from?" Asked the woman.

"Gallifrey" responded Ericar, without thinking. He winced at his mistake.

"Where?" Asked the man, puzzled.

"It's uh... An island." Ericar murmured.

"Oh. Well, if you're alright, we'll be on our way then." They turned to leave, but then the woman turned back.

"What's your name son?"

Ericar looked about the street, taking in the shop front signs.

"Smith. Darren Smith."

"Nice to meet you Darren." They turned a corner and were gone.

Ericar smiled. For all he had heard from his father and uncles about humans, they seemed alright to him.

He turned and ran back to the TARDIS. He ran past the console and bounded down the stairs and into the corridors, in search of the wardrobe.


	4. Chapter 4

Later, in the Console room, Ericar pulled on his long jacket. He had checked the TARDIS records and it seemed this was the appropriate choice for the period of time he was in. Still, the waistcoat and cravat seemed a little stuffy.

He lifted a top hat from the console and looked at it with distaste. He threw it over the edge of the platform the console stood on. He opened the doors and walked out.

The air was crisper than it had been earlier. Snow crunched under his boots as he walked along Paternoster Row. He bumped into a veiled woman, but kept walking.

"Sorry!" He shouted as he broke into a run. He turned onto a hill and skidded down on a length of ice. He had found a room full of filing cabinets in the TARDIS and each had bags and bags of coins inside it. He had picked one that was right for the current date and it chinked and jingled as he ran through the streets of London. He pulled a few from his pocket and walked into a bakery to purchase a quaint little piece of cooked dough called a "scone". It tasted so much better after he spread a red preserve the humans called "jam". After that he wandered along London Bridge and gazed up at the Houses of Parliament.

After a few hours wandering around, he began to walk back towards the TARDIS. Just before he turned onto the hill near Paternoster Row, a scream echoed down from the adjacent row of houses. He ran up the road, slipping on patches of ice. He rounded the corner and saw a man and his family being manhandled out of their house. They were loaded into a cab by a group of men, which set off up the street. The group then ran off in the opposite direction.  
"Hey!" Ericar shouted, breaking into a run. Just as he passed the house, it exploded, windows shattering, chunks of masonry blasting out across the road. Ericar was picked up and thrown sideways along the road. A chunk of stone hit his temple and when he hit the pavement, he was spark out unconscious.

He awoke to the sight of a domed head looking down on him. He groaned groggily.

"Madam, the human girl is waking!" yelled the stumpy figure standing over him. Ericar's vision faded slowly back into focus and he realised it was a Sontaren standing over him.

He backed up, coming up against a wall. He felt around and grabbed a broken bit of railing and swung it at the Sontaren's head. However, the Sontaren grabbed it before it made contact and yanked it from the young Time Lord's hands.

"Strax! Be careful!" Came the cockney voice of a young woman. Ericar looked her over. She was dressed accordingly to the time but two Samauri swords hung over her back.

"Jenny! Strax! Stand back." This was the cultured voice of someone who didn't speak English naturally. Strax and Jenny stood aside and Ericar saw the veiled woman he had bumped into earlier.

"My name is Madame Vastra. And you are the Doctor." She said, pulling back the veil to reveal the scaled face of a Silurian.

"Who? I'm not the Doctor! I wish I was, but I'm not!" He protested.

Madame Vastra stiffened.

"You are the Doctor. I spotted you exiting your TARDIS on the corner of Paternoster Row."

Ericar held up his hands.

"I'm not the Doctor, but it is his TARDIS. Sort of... And what the hell are a Sontaren and a Silurian doing in 1894?".

Vastra moved back at this onslaught, visibly disturbed.

"What do you mean, 'The Doctor's TARDIS'? How did you come by it? Who are you?" She asked.

Ericar held down his hands.

"I'm a Time Lord, like the Doctor, and I've just fled Gallifrey in a copy of The Doctor's TARDIS. My best friend was captured by the Chancellory Guard and the TARDIS locked out the co-ordinates to Gallifrey, I couldn't get near if I tried. She's being tortured as we speak and... And...". Ericar slumped to the ground, beat.

"And it's all my fault." He hung his head.

A faint ringing echoed into his ears, rising and rising and rising and rising... Suddenly, he looked up again. He leapt to his feet. He ran over to the wreckage of the house, pulling out the screwdriver as he went.

"Where is it? I know it's here! I can feel it." He turned and his eyes searched the floor. He ran over to a pile of rubble and pulled the top stone off. Beneath the rubble was a bronze orb, not battered like the rest of the metal lying about, decorated with circular runes. Upon closer inspection, he realised that the runes were circular Gallifreyan.

Vastra ran over.

"What is it?" She inquired.

"This is a Time Lord data core!" He cried. "I should be able to..." He held the sonic to the surface of the orb. It projected an image onto a nearby wall. The face of Legendar Excradus sprang up. A video began to play.

"Ericar! You insolent child! How dare you abandon our home planet?! You have defied our oldest laws, spat upon your elder's faces and most of all, you have left your greatest and oldest friend to rot!" The projection changed to show Ajaxa, bound with blue-grey energy, kneeling on a stone circle. A metal device hung above her, projecting a field of red energy about her. It was obvious she was in great pain.

"You filthy dirty rotten bastard!" Ericar yelled, forgetting it was a recorded message.

"I swear by the Ancients of Gallifrey, I will kill you!"

"I like him!" said Strax to Jenny, earning himself a clout on the head.

Ericar turned and ran into the street. He pointed the screwdriver at the device and it buzzed, higher pitched than before. The orb sparked and Ericar threw it with all his might into the wreckage of the house. As his rage faded and the cold, empty feeling of despair began to re-enter him, he noticed two men approaching him, well to do by the look of their clothes. One was tall and thin, the other somewhat more squat. Remembering the two TARDIS's that had chased him through the Time Vortex, he raised his arms and held them out beside him.

"Come on then fellas, come and get me!" He yelled, turning and running the opposite direction. They too broke into a run, giving chase.


	5. Chapter 5

Panting, Ericar quickly ducked into an alcove. He had run for a few miles, before heading into the industrial district. Gazing round the corner, it looked like he had lost the two Time Lords chasing him. Suddenly, something caught his eye. Outside one of the factory gates, he saw the cab that had carted the family away from the house which exploded.

He ran over, and peered through the window of the cab. Seeing it was empty, he instead looked at the stylised writing on the door.

"The Ladratra Syndicate." He read aloud, running his hand along the gold font on the door. He heard a gate clang. He looked over to where the sound had come from. A wrought iron gate set into the brick wall around the factory was swinging in the wind. He ran over and slipped inside. Running up the side of the building was a series of metal steps, obviously some sort of fire escape. He lifted himself onto it and climbed to the roof.

Once on the roof, he ran over to a trap door set into the brickwork. A chunky lock held it shut. However a quick buzz from the sonic soon opened it. He quickly jumped down through to the factory.

He dropped down onto some sort of gantry running through the middle of a room. He peered over the edge. Two children and a woman were chained together in front of a large machine. Three men stood opposite them in a triangle formation. Ericar was shocked to see the two Time Lords thwart had chased him before standing behind the other man. Suddenly a door opened on the far side of the room. Two thugs dragged a man over to the other three men. They dropped him to his knees. He had obviously been tortured. His face was bloodied and his shirt was soaked with sweat.

The man in the middle stepped forward. He had a rather fat moustache.

"Mr Granwright, welcome to the Ladrata Syndicate." He walked over to a control console. He pulled a lever and the huge machine powered up. Arcs of electricity shot along it and a powerful hum filled the air.

"You, Mr Granwright, are England's leading light on electrical manipulation. You will calibrate this machine to produce an output of 12000 mega joules of electricity per unit. Effectively, this is one giant transformer!" The man smiled. "If you don't, I will redirect the out put straight into the chains that bind your family. It is your choice Mr Granwright."

Shaking, Granwright stood up to the control console and began to carefully manipulate the levers in front of him. He twisted a dial and carefully altered a slider. Finally, he pulled two levers back, just as he pushed another two forward. Harmonies echoed through the air as the machine reached it's optimum voltage.

"It's done," yelled Granwright over the noise of the machine, "now let my family go free."

Laughing, the moustache man pulled out a revolver and shot Granwright through the heart. His wife screamed and the children cried for their father. Ericar trembled with anger at what he had just witnessed.

"Now,"'said the moustached man, turning to face the two Time Lords, "now that that nasty business is out of the way, it is time for you to uphold your side of our bargain."

The tall one stepped forward, a silver device in his hands. Ericar looked down and jumped with fright. They were giving the man a dimension raft!

"Only if you uphold yours as well, Ladrat." Said the tall Time Lord, handing over the silver device.

"Of course, of course Ratisbon." Said Ladrat. He walked over to the machine and placed the raft into a waiting slot. It lit up blue and a powerful whine ripped through the air.

"It should reach capacity in about two hours." Said the short Time Lord.

"Thank you Flavius." Said Ladrat,"my men are out even now, searching for this boy you are looking for."

So that was it. Ratisbon and Flavius gave Ladrat a dimension raft and in return, Ladrat would help them return Ericar to Gallifrey. Looking around, he spotted something.

Flavius and Ratisbon were turning to leave when they heard a whistle. They turned and looked up. Ericar stood atop a metal strut, sonic screwdriver in hand.

"Evening gents! Now I haven't got a clue why you're giving Whiskers here a dimension raft, but it can't be for a good reason. But that machine looks pretty fragile to me."

Ratisbon stood forward.

"Ericar! You have one chance to surrender! Either way, you will be returned to Gallifrey to face the High Council."

Ericar laughed.

"What council? There's only Excradus and Rassilon making the decisions now." He raised the sonic and activated it. At the top of the room, a bracket broke and a heavy hook attached to a thick chain swung down and hit the machine, which sparked and the whine rose in pitch. Ladrat yelped.

"He's damaged the Vortex Compensator. If I can't stabilise it, this whole sector of time could rupture."

They looked up, but Ericar was gone, racing along a gantry for the hatch. Ladrat pulled out a gun and fired. Ericar ducked as the beam above his head exploded with sparks. He opened the hatch and ran out onto the roof.

Ladrat pulled a huge lever on the wall. The electricity flow to the machine stopped. Flavius ran over and checked the damage.

"It's broken, but not impossible to fix. I shall begin to effect repairs immediately."

Ladrat yelled.

"Just get it done."

Ratisbon's communicator began to beep. He moved towards the factory doors.

"Where are you going?!" Yelled Ladrat.

Ratisbon looked over his shoulder.

"To take a call, you dull creature." And with that, he walked into the snowy night air.

On Gallifrey, in the Chancellor's Office, Legendar Excradus's communicator blinked. He tapped a button and the comm link opened to Ratisbon.

"What is it? Have you found the Renegade yet?" He asked.

"No sir, we have so far failed in our attempts to catch him." Came the disappointing reply.

"For Omega's sake! He's one person, how hard can it be?!" Yelled Legendar, slamming his fist on his table.

"The boy has proved elusive. A change of tactics would be well advised." Ratisbon looked uncomfortable.

Legendar stood and paced over to the window of his office. He was near the top of the Citadel, gazing out to the plains, framed by the mountains Solace and Solitude. Even he appreciated the beauty of the sweet Gallifreyan sunset, glinting from the snow capped peaks and lighting up the long, flat land beyond. He turned away again and returned to his desk.

"I know what you must do."


	6. Chapter 6

Ericar ran across the rooftop. He jumped onto the fire escape and rattled down the metal grating. He jumped into a pile of snow, ducking out of site as Ladrat, Ratisbon and Flavius exited the building. The latter two entered a cab and raced out the gates as Ladrat entered a small building near the compound wall.

Ericar glanced around, and after confirming no one was around, he ran across to the building. He looked through a small window, but it was too dirty to see anything.

The door swung open silently. He gazed around what appeared to be a small storeroom. Ladrat was nowhere to be seen.

He pulled a jar off a shelf, but there was nothing behind it. He checked around a little more, but there was nothing to be found.

He was about to leave when he noticed something peculiar. He looked up at the ceiling. There was no socket for a light. However, there was a small black switch set into the brickwork by the door. He flicked it.

Suddenly, the floor began to descend. The shelving around the room stayed attached to the wall. The floor continued to journey into the ground.

It stopped suddenly, and a door opened in front of him. He stepped out cautiously. He looked down a long tunnel. He stepped down and his boot splashed into water. With disgust, he realised he was in London's sewers, probably an abandoned section judging by the general disrepair of his surrounding environment.

He walked a little way along the tunnel and came to an exit covered by long thick iron bars. He looked out and over the Thames river. A small tug floated lazily by.

He saw a door set into the stonework beside him. It opened noisily, screeching with age and rust. A metal spiral staircase descended into the depths. He began to walk down.

He reached an opening. He exited onto a metal gantry that ran around a huge cavern. He looked up. The ceiling stretched up about ten metres and there were at least twenty metres beneath him. He realised the Thames must be just above the room. He looked down again. The room was dominated by a huge chunk of rock, which on second glance was more well-ordered than any normal rock. Insect-like creatures scuttled about its surface. Ericar spotted Ladrat walking over to a wooden desk covered with paper. He picked up a metal device that Ericar realised was a microphone.

"The Vortex Conducer is prepared and final adjustments are being completed. The Drive Core will soon be completely re-powered and we can leave this God-forsaken rock once and for all." Ladrat's voice echoed all over the cavern. All the creatures turned and looked towards him as he continued his speech.

"We encountered a minor setback as the Conducer was damaged by... A rogue element so to speak, but repairs have been effected and we are continuing on schedule." Something about the insects had begun to unnerve Ericar, something in his memory about them.

"Be assured, comrades, we will rise again. The Mantazra will rise again!" Roared Ladrat. Dark, cold fear crept down Ericar's spine at the name of the Mantazra. Now he realised why he had recognised the insects. He and his fellow initiates had been taught of them at the Academy, the parasitic race of insectoid creatures that lived for millennia. Their ship must have crashed millions of years ago and the Mantazra remained in hibernation until now, waiting for the right time to leave the planet.

He leapt up, turned and ran and ran and ran, for there was nothing he could think to do.

He bowled out of the store shed, back onto the surface. He was about to leave the gates when he heard a yell, a girls voice.

"Ericar!"

He froze at the sound of her voice.

"Ajaxa!" He yelled. He saw a shape being dragged out behind the corner of the factory. He rounded the side of the building and saw Ajaxa being pulled through a door into the factory. He ran after her, not thinking.

He entered the building and saw Ajaxa chained to a post in the middle of the factory floor, chained up to the Vortex Conducer.

"Ajaxa!" He yelled, running over to free her from her chains. Just as he reached her however, she flickered and faded away to nothing.

"Ajaxa?" He said, confused.

He realised far too late.

He felt a blow to the back of his head and he crumpled to the ground. Just before he blacked out, he saw the shape of Ratisbon and Flavius standing over him triumphantly. Then his vision saw, and he blacked out.


	7. Chapter 7

Slowly, Ericar came to, groggy. His vision blurred slowly and then focused. He sleepily turned his head. He was seated in the middle of an office, overlooking the river Thames. The Thames!

He shook himself awake. He strained to turn his head and glanced an old grandfather clock. Five minutes to twelve! Two hours ago Flavius said the machine would be ready in two hours. He had five minutes to stop the Mantazra from destroying London. He shook his wrists, but a chain bound them to the chair. Suddenly, he remembered something from his days in the Academy.

"Come on Ericar!" Yelled Bennard, his young legs running across the field. Ericar tried to catch up but was failing miserably. The boys were both aged about fifty, but looked ten by human standards.

"We're going to be late!".

They ran through the Academy's front doors. They were about to hit the stairs when a voice roared out behind them.

"Where have you two been?!" The voice of their Elder roared up the hall to meet them. The two young boys froze.

"Classes resumed HALF AN HOUR AGO! You both know what this means."

And so the boys found themselves having to solve one of the punishment puzzles beneath the Academy. This one involved being chained to posts while a Sontaren firing squad was getting ready to execute them. All holographic of course, but they were frighteningly real. They had to slip their chains and make off unnoticed. It was frightening but it had only served to cement the two boys friendship.

Ericar began to pull and squirm his hands from his bonds. After about a minute, he finally slipped his bonds. He rubbed his wrists. Reaching for the sonic screwdriver, he found only thin air. However, the door was unlocked. Ratisbon and Flavius stood near a window, preparing to watch the ship rise from the river. Quietly, Ericar ran over to the console of the Conducer and looked at the controls.

Slowly, and carefully so as not to raise so much noise he began to manipulate the controls that Mr Granwright had so carefully set up. To be honest, he was just turning up everything as far as it would go. Suddenly, the machine whined and the two men at the window turned.

"What are you doing!?" Yelled Flavius. Ericar ran.

Ratisbon and Flavius ran to the console.

"Can you stop it?" Cried Ratisbon.  
"No, he's damaged the controls. The best I can try to do is re-route the power out into the city."

Down beneath the Thames, Ladrat looked on in horror as the energy readings rose to dangerous levels and stayed there.

Back on the surface, Ericar ran up a staircase and onto the gantries. He had a clatter from behind him and saw Ratisbon arrive on the gantry.

"Stop it Ericar! This is enough." He yelled advancing towards.

"No Ratisbon. There's something you have all forgotten."

Ratisbon stopped. "And what is that?"

Ericar straightened. The two were practically nose to nose.

"I'm not a child anymore.".

He ducked back and punched Ratisbon square on the nose. The chain that had previously held him was now wrapped around his fist and when the punch connected, Ratisbon's nose crumpled and blood erupted from his nose. Taking advantage of the distraction, Ericar turned and ran out of the roof hatch. Ratisbon looked down as Flavius fruitlessly attempted to shut down the Conducer. He continued to pursue Ericar.

Ericar ran out onto the rooftop, and looked around. Spotting the rusted staircase leading off the building, a plan began to form in Ericar's head.

Ratisbon erupted from the hatch. He saw a set of footsteps leading towards the staircase. He began to go down.

At the bottom, Ericar spotted Ratisbon halfway down the staircase. Lifting the chain that was now tied around the support struts he gave it a sharp tug. The metal gave and he gave it one more sharp tug. With the tortured cry of metal collapsing, the staircase began to topple, with Ratisbon still halfway up.

It finally collapsed with a desperate crash.

Ratisbon gasped for breath. He tried to move, but several tonnes of metal pinned him down. A trail of blood ran down his face. He turned his head and saw Ericar standing over him. He bent down and retrieved his father's sonic screwdriver from Ratisbon's pocket.

"Please..." He said, reaching out. "Help me..."

Ericar simply turned and walked away and out of the compound.

Back inside the factory, Flavius gave up. The Conducer whined and glowed brightly. Flavius closed his eyes and braced himself for the inevitable.

Ratisbon gasped for breath and gazed into the sky as he entered the final ten seconds of his life.

Ericar ran for his life. The surrounding area of docks was nearly abandoned and no one would be hurt but he still had to get away from the factory before...

A huge explosion ripped through the factory, decimating the brickwork and structure. The ship beneath the Thames also exploded and dirty river water began to fill the chamber. Ladrat braced himself for the worst.  
Peace settled over London, the threat that had almost meant its end was finally averted.


	8. Chapter 8

Ericar stood outside the TARDIS, waiting for Madame Vastra and Jenny. He had stayed with them a few days whilst the commotion over the factory had settled down. But now it was time to go. However, he had one last thing to do.

Jenny and Vastra appeared from around the side of the TARDIS, carrying a sack.

"Here it is. Strax cleaned it up as best he could." Vastra handed across the sack.

"Thank you. It's time I was off then. Thank you for everything." Ericar opened the police box's door.

Vastra stepped forward.

"Ericar?"

Ericar turned.

"You'll find a way to save her. You can do it, you know." Vastra pulled off a tight lipped smile.

Ericar smiled sadly and disappeared into the TARDIS.

Vastra and Jenny stepped back as the ancient, wheezing groans that were so familiar to them now started up and the TARDIS faded away to nothing.

Inside, Ericar slumped into one of the chairs that sat around the console. He lifted the data core from the sack that Vastra had given him and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. He set about his task with grim determination.

On the edges of Kasterbourous, a blue box wheezed into existence. The door opened and Ericar stepped up to the edge. A change had come over him since leaving London. He had traded his old fashioned attire for a checkered shirt and jeans with a long black overcoat that brushed the back of his knees. He wore a pair of old battered workmanship boots. He held up the re-programmed core. A buzz of the sonic screwdriver activated it and he held it out into space.

It floated for a minute and then it whizzed off towards the bright light in the distance that was Gallifrey. Ericar stepped back into the TARDIS and dematerialised.

Gallifrey, the Senate Chamber

A fanfare erupted as the doors swung open and President Rassilon entered the chamber to rapturous applause. He stepped up to the lectern and held his hand up for silence.

"Lords and Ladies of Gallifrey - Welcome to the future." More applause. Again, he held his hand up for silence. He opened his mouth to speak but he never got the chance.

A crash erupted from the top of the Chamber as a bronze object crashed through the roof. The room fell silent as it embedded itself at the foot of the lectern. A beam of light extended from it and a hologram appeared in the middle of the chamber. It showed a girl being tortured over and over again.

"My Lords and Ladies, forgive me for this most heinous intrusion." Came a young mans voice from the orb.

"Ericar..." Muttered Legendar.

"But I think you may be interested as to exactly what your Chancellor and President have been up to." Ericar continued. "This is my best friend, Ajaxa Sinarni. She is currently being held in the Depths of Gallifrey, for wishing to leave Gallifrey, a crime usually punished by exile, ironically. Yet here she is." Mutters of discontent had began to sound around the Senate Chamber.

"Please take the matter up with Lord President Rassilon and our esteemed Chancellor, Lord Excradus." Then the voice cut, but the scenes of torture continued.

Cries of discontent and fury rattled around the Chamber. Rassilon yelled.

"SILENCE!" But to no avail. Eventually, the Senate was disbanded for the day.

Down in the Depths of the Capitol, Ajaxa grinned, despite the pain.


	9. Chapter 9

Ericar smiled, watching the core fade away. He walked back to the console and dematerialised. He leaned down to scrub a bit of oil from the console.

He stood up straight and started. A man stood on the opposite side of the console.

"What the hell?!" Cried Ericar. The man was wearing a long green coat, a gold waistcoat and a set of leather boots.

"Who are you?" He shouted.

The man drew himself up to his full height and proclaimed:

"I'm the Doctor. What in God's name have you done to my TARDIS?". Ericar's draw dropped.

Before he could answer, the TARDIS lurched and a deep tolling bell came from the distance. The console sparked and the lights flashed on and off.

Ericar tumbled around the console and briefly met the Doctor's hand.

"Welcome aboard!" He cried.

The TARDIS spun off into the Vortex, bucking and spinning wildly.

A/N: Wrote this over the space of two months, and several re-drafts. Thanks for reading and please review. This is my first story and I uploaded it all in one night. Thanks, and stay ready for a sequel...


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